Smoothies of Destiny
by Zuzanny
Summary: Ben suffers from pica. Mister Smoothie specialises in pica. Rook tries to figure out if Ben is pregnant or not, and how that would have happened with out his noticing.


09/03/2017 - 02/04/2017

Ben 10 and the characters from that show don't belong to me. I am just borrowing them for a while. I make no profit from this.

* * *

Smoothies of Destiny

By Zuzanny

* * *

Rook Blonko sat at the table opposite Ben Tennison at Mister Smoothies, observing the young human as he sucked down a Honey-Sardine-Broccoli and Ginger concoction with an expression on his face that Rook could only categorise as "blissful". Ben's eyes would flutter closed with each suck on the straw, and he would even make these strange little moaning noises before swallowing. Rook tilted his head to the side while watching, and thought back through any Earth animal equivalent videos he had watched. He supposed those cats said "Om nom nom nom" while eating, so could this be the same?

"Oh my God, this is so good!" Ben groaned out during a breath he took between slerps. "Mister Smoothie should have come up with this combo ages ago. He's a genius! I don't know why no one else like it!" Then he went back to his consuming.

Rook blinked, and turned his head to observe the other humans and their reactions to what Ben was doing. Those few who had heard what Ben had ordered had wrinkled their noses up or grimaced in what Rook took to be disgust or horror.

"Are you kidding?!" Someone had blurted when they saw today's menu option. "That's grose!"

"Perhaps they're marketing for pregnant women here." Someone else said.

"They would have to be pregnant to eat that crap!" Said another. And various others similar things.

Now Rook didn't think Ben would be pregnant. He was PRETTY SURE only the females of the human species were capable of that (although there were bound to be exceptions, and there were plenty of Earth animals which showed this was possible). And he was also thought Ben was too preoccupied with saving the world to be sexually active... Right? Surely he would have noticed?

Rook also new different preferences for flavours was also a common thing for humans. Gwen and Kevin were constantly observed declining Ben's offers for them to taste what ever new flavor combination Ben was trying out at the time... And Ben's Mother also made flavour choices that some found questionable, so maybe Ben got it from her? But Ben was more likely to reject her cooking than Kevin and Gwen were to reject his offers of tastings.

Mr. Smoothie still had plenty of Customers enjoying the more "normal" flavors, so he wasn't just catering for pregnant females.

So again, what could it be?

Rook admitted that he found some flavour combinations delicious. The sardine, tuna, or any fish ones were very nice in his opinion. But others were just... Wrong. Like the garlic-orange-mushroom-asparagus and carob combo last week. Not appealing at all. He had asked Ben about why he liked to eat what he does, and Ben just shrugged him off saying that after the stuff his mom makes, even stir-fried labradoodle tasted good.

Rook seriously hoped Ben was joking about eating the labradoodle, but he wasn't sure. He still found Human humor challenging to grasp at times.

Ben finally reached the end of his smoothy and let out a loud belch. He slouched back in his chair looking satisfied and relaxed. "Man, that was great."

"It's worse than pickles and icecream." Someone gagged as they walked past Ben to leave.

"Oi!" Ben called after them. "What's wrong with pickles and icecream? You ever tried them? Next you'll be knocking fishfingers and custard!" That person gave Ben a venomous glare and then swept out in a huff. "Seriously," Ben grumbled. "Some people are just so rude. Pickles and icecream are delicious!"

Rook snorted at the irony of Ben calling anyone else rude. And then a very strange thought occurred to him. Not all the Earth creatures required a partner for reproduction, and the same was with many non-earth creatures. Who knew what constant switching between life forms could do long term? "Ben..." He hedged. "I suspect the omnitrix may be malfunctioning."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because through observations of your eating habits and overhearing the discussions or comments of our fellow humans... It appears as though you maybepregnant."

"WHAT?!" Ben's eyes almost exploded out of his face with his shriek, and immediately pulled his watch-bound wrist close to examine it. "Dammit, Azmuth promised! He told me that would never happen again! He PROMISED!"

"Again?" Rook echoed as Ben stormed out of the restaurant, loudly complaining about Stupid Genius Alien Tech Masters, and how he always ended up being The One The Malfunctions Showed Up With and how life was unfair, and if he found out Kevin had squeeled about his Necrofrigian "incident" he was going to strangle the prick. Rook stared after Ben with somedegree of horror, unsure if he should run after the young man (and try to prevent Ben from murdering his friend, but.. But Kevin hadn't said anything about any necrofrigian - what necrofrigian incident? What?).

Soft laughter made him turn and look up at the man wearing an apron who was now standing at his table, also watching Ben stalk down the road like he was one of the Sumo-Slammers he enjoyed watching so much. "Mister Smoothie!" Rook blerted out, realising the man's identity.

"Hello Rook. May I call you Rook?"

"Of course sir! I am deeply sorry that Ben Tennison has already departed. I am sure he would have been delighted to meet you in person. Ben had just been exclaiming about how much he enjoyed the smoothie selection for today."

Mr. Smoothie smiled with satisfaction. "Good. I especially design them with him in mind."

"Really?" Rook tilted his head, trying to work out reasons why Mr. Smoothie would do so. "Mister Smoothie, if I may ask... Many of your customers today hypothesised you were catering for pregnant females. Do you also cater for pregnant males?" Mr. Smoothie snorted with surprised laughter. Rook continued. "I did not think that was physically possible for humans..." He trailed off again contemplating Ben's words.

"Not quite, my friend." Mr. Smoothie snickered into his hand. "But I do specialise in pica."

"Pie-cah?" Rook echoed.

"Yes. A funny little quirk a lot of humans get. Usually known as cravings, especially in pregnant women, but not always. Aliens may get it too, but there aren't as many opportunities for me to study that as I would like. You know how everything is made up of elements - minerals, vitamins, protiens, atom, and all that sort of thing?"

Rook nodded.

"Every cell in our bodies need these elements every day in order to function properly. If we don't get enough, then we start to get sick and our bodies break down. Do you follow?"

Again Rook nodded.

"Normally we get most of what we need in our food, and depending upon how active and healthy we are, depends on how quickly our bodies burn up those elements. When we need specific elements we tend to get strange cravings."

"So a pregnant female needs more elements because she is building another being, and her body needs to replace the elements it uses in the building?" Rook checked his understanding.

Mr. Smoothie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, pretty much."

"But sir, why would your specialisation be targeted towards Ben?"

"Think about it Rook. How active is he normally, saving the world every day? How many aliens does he transform into? What elements do each of those aliens need in order to function properly, and how much of those elements are leached from Ben's own body every time he changes?"

"Mmm! I see!" Rook felt like a light had lit inside his mind. "Add to that the way he refuses to eat anything his mother makes, despite the flavour combinations usually being quite acceptable to me-"

"What?" Mr. Smoothie frowned. "I didn't know that. I had factored in that regular food consumption could be interrupted by threats of invasion, but not that he refuses to eat when given the option. Thank you Rook. I will adjust my recipes."

"He WILL eat chillie-fries!" Rook defended. "In fact, one alien who copied his DNA became obsessed with eating them. He said it must be genetic."

"Of course Ben eats chillie-fries." Mr. Smoothie grinned, showing off his perfect, shiney, white teeth, and leaned in close to whisper conspiritively. "I also made them with him in mind." He abruptly stood up straight and gazed back out the window. "And you better get after him before some other monster decides to invade the Earth again today."

So Rook did.

* * *

It was a few weeks later (after several alien invasions, a genetically modified plague, and a round of publicity cockroashes) when it happened. And no, Ben was not exhibiting common symptoms for pregnancy.

They were once again at Mister Smoothies, and Ben was taking far longer than usual to decide. He was standing, staring up at the menu board with a rather perplexed expression on his face.

"What is it?" Rook inquired. He noticed the serving wench was starting to get impatient.

"I... Don't... know..." Ben replied quietly. "It's just... The normal beetroot-bacon-orange-fungreek and halibut combo just doesn't appeal. So weird."

Rook could only agreed. Weird indeed.

Then Ben's eyes lit up. "That one!" He pointed triumphantly.

Rook's eyes widened with shock. This truly was a combination that he had never witnessed Ben trying before.

Ben took his super large smoothie order, and slurped it all the way back to the table where Keven and Gwen were waiting. They were already partway through their goodies. Ben once again started making those super contented eating noises that meant Mr. Smoothie got the combination Just Right, then licked his lips when he was done. He slammed his empty cup down on the table top and slouched back in his chair feeling happy and full.

"Honest to God, that has got to be the most amazing smoothie Mr. Smoothie has ever made. I don't know how he does it, he just keeps making them better and better!"

"Please tell me you didn't get that one with the fish eyes in it again?"Kevin grimmaced. "I still want to vomit just thinking about it."

"Hey, the fish eyes give extra texture. They're cool, like, like, like chewy bubbles!"

Gwen joined in with the gagging and the teasing until Ben stormed off in a huff. Eventually they made their excuses and went their own way, leaving Rook to clean up what was left of Ben's mess. Rook didn't really mind. He was Ben's partner after all. He picked up the empty cup and sniffed it, smiling gently at the soft vanilla scent.

It seemed like Mister Smoothie finally got the combination right.

The end.


End file.
